namesGenerator.rb

#
#    This Generator creates names similar to those generated by the algorithm 
#    used on Anarres, the desert planet of the exile anarchists, in the 
#    'ambiguous utopia' 'The Dispossessed' by Ursula K. Le Guin
#

class NamesGenerator

  VOWELS = ['a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u']
  CONSONANTS = ('a'..'z').to_a - VOWELS
  CONSONANTS_TO_AVOID = ['c','h','j','q','w','x','y']
  COMBINED_CONSONANTS = ['ch','gv','kv','sh'] 
  COMBINED_CONSONANTS_FOR_PART = { :begin => ['sk','tr'], 
                                   :middle => ['rd', 'rr', 'rz','ss'],
                                   :end => ['ks']}
  NON_VOWEL_SOUNDS = CONSONANTS - CONSONANTS_TO_AVOID + COMBINED_CONSONANTS
  NON_VOWEL_SOUNDS_FOR_PART = {:begin => NON_VOWEL_SOUNDS + COMBINED_CONSONANTS_FOR_PART[:begin],
                               :middle => NON_VOWEL_SOUNDS + COMBINED_CONSONANTS_FOR_PART[:middle],
                               :end => NON_VOWEL_SOUNDS + COMBINED_CONSONANTS_FOR_PART[:end]}

  def self.generate_name
    (NON_VOWEL_SOUNDS_FOR_PART[:begin].sample + 
      VOWELS.sample + 
      NON_VOWEL_SOUNDS_FOR_PART[:middle].sample + 
      VOWELS.sample + 
      NON_VOWEL_SOUNDS_FOR_PART[:end].sample).capitalize
  end

  def self.name
    #names should be 5 or 6 letters long
    begin
      proposal = self.generate_name 
    end until proposal.length == 5 || proposal.length == 6
    #todo: check of name already given to living person
    #todo: check if non-dictionary-word
    proposal
  end
end

10.times do
    puts NamesGenerator.name
end